Deploy by Jamie Magee Page B

landed here, with the demon her daughter had brought home decades before. Until Justice was eighteen, until either one of them had a place to go, this was it. Them watching the calendar slide by.
    Bell saved every penny she could from where she worked at the school as a substitute teacher, and the part-time job she had driving the elderly all the way to Savannah for doctor’s appointments, but Brent Rose made it impossible for ends to meet.
    A home that had been paid for decades before now had a lien on it, a payment he never paid himself. She had no choice but to get a different car months before and it too had a note on it; those bills coupled with the other routine household bills and providing for a teen girl made it all the harder.
    “One day ,” Bell told Justice over and over, “ this will all be a bad dream .”  Which she believed with her whole heart. 
    The last two years had been hard, yes. But before then, she and her late husband were blessed enough to raise their granddaughter. Yes, neither of them slept on the days they had to let Justice stay with Brent each week, yes they knew Justice endured more than they were even aware of, but the sun had its moments and it would again.

Seven
    T he one fucking time Declan Rawlings wanted to go to school, he couldn’t.
    Nope.
    Because of the damage, the seniors were dismissed. Their graduation ceremony was postponed to a date when neither Declan nor Nolan would be in town. They didn’t care.
    Declan didn’t plan to wear the cap and gown anyway, at least not unless Missy, his grandmother, made him.
    Some of the lower classmen had to report to the middle school for finals but for the most part school for the year was over for everyone. Which meant Declan didn’t get to see Justice. He’d tried calling her, but it went to voicemail every time, and he didn’t feel good leaving a message, not when he didn’t know who would get it. It was the silent treatment all over again, only this time it was worse.
    This was it, his last day in Bradyville for a good while. Tomorrow morning Nolan was driving him to the base, then heading off on his own. The night before, his family all met up at the bar and had a graduation slash going away party for Nolan and Declan along with two other cousins who had walked the line that year.
    The entire event felt whimsical to him. Declan remembered sending Tobias off the same way, and how excited he was. Declan also remembered how the glint in Tobias’ eyes had changed just weeks later when he returned. In a few weeks’ time, Tobias had lived a lifetime—he saw nothing the same as he had before, and now it would be much the same for Declan.
    Declan was a little unnerved about the choice he’d made, but his dad told him that meant he wanted it, and he believed him—because he knew he did.
    “Knock, knock,” Declan heard and turned to see Atticus leaning in the doorway to the ten by twelve room he shared with Nolan. A room that had flags and posters of half naked women pinned to the walls.
    “What’s up?” Declan asked in his standard stoic tone.
    “Just checking out my room. I think I’m gonna to put a gaming system right ‘bout here,” Atticus said, stretching his arms out on the far wall.
    “Coming back,” Declan said not bothering to hitch the grin Atticus was hunting for.
    “In four years,” Atticus spat, plopping down on Nolan’s bed.
    “I’ll be back for the Rally, and some between then.”
    “And there’re plenty of beds in this town for you to fall into,” he taunted, which earned him a hard glare.
    “Daddy’s worried about you.”
    Declan paused his packing for a mere second, long enough for Atticus to notice, then went back to his task. “He say so?”
    “Naw, I can just tell. He won’t sit still and keeps looking at his watch like he has somewhere to be. He and Tobias have been talking a lot, too.”
    “That’s good, though.” Declan meant Tobias and their dad talking. It had been a bit tense.